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Fast Facts of the NYU Global Network

Posted on November 11, 2024 by Maxine P

While it is impossible to fully capture the breadth of the NYU global network, we rounded up some fast facts about the academic sites and cities where NYU students can study away. Whether they land at one of our three degree-granting campuses in New York City, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai or at our sites in Accra, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Florence, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Paris, Prague, Sydney, Tel Aviv, and Washington, DC, NYU students will have a rich academic experience supported by the University. Our newest site, NYU Tulsa, will officially open in spring 2025. Select students went to NYU Tulsa in spring 2024 for Alternative Breaks as well as during the summer for internship experiences.

The following information is accurate at the time of publication in fall 2024, but it is representative of a moment in time, so some information may change.

NYU Abu Dhabi

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 123*
Average class size: 16*
Number of courses available: 600+*
Number of residence halls: 3°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $4.90†
City population: ~600,000‡

NYU Accra

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 14*
Average class size: 5*
Number of courses available: 12*
Number of residence halls: 1°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $1.90†
City population: ~1.9 million‡

NYU Berlin

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 77*
Average class size: 11*
Number of courses available: 30*
Number of residence halls: 2°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $3.06†
City population: ~3.5 million‡

NYU Buenos Aires

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 47*
Average class size: 7*
Number of courses available: 27*
Number of residence halls: 1, however, most students live in a homestay°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $1.76†
City population: ~13.1 million‡

NYU Florence

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 351*
Average class size: 24*
Number of courses available: 60*
Number of residence halls: 4, plus the option to live in a homestay°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $1.54†
City population: ~350,000‡

NYU Londonˣ

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 495*
Average class size: 22*
Number of courses available: 97*
Number of residence halls: 5°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $3.36†
City population: ~8.9 million‡

NYU Los Angeles

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 35*
Average class size: 11*
Number of courses available: 13*
Number of residence halls: 1°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $4.69†
City population: ~3.8 million§

NYU Madrid

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 284*
Average class size: 23*
Number of courses available: 51*
Number of residence halls: 3°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $1.92†
City population: ~3.2 million‡

NYU in New York City

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 535*
Average class size: <30*
Number of courses available: 2,500+*
Number of residence halls: 11°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $4.69†
City population: ~8.3 million§

NYU Paris

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 257*
Average class size: 15*
Number of courses available: 68*
Number of residence halls: 3, plus the option to live in a homestay°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $3.13†
City population: ~2.1 million‡

NYU Prague

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 88*
Average class size: 8*
Number of courses available: 50*
Number of residence halls: 2°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $2.46†
City population: ~1.1 million‡

NYU Shanghai

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 95*
Average class size: 7*
Number of courses available: 250+*
Number of residence halls: 1°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $3.95†
City population: ~22.3 million‡

NYU Sydney

Students in front of the Sydney Opera House

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 38*
Average class size: 7*
Number of courses available: 13* (Access to dozens of University of Sydney courses also available through direct enrollment.)
Number of residence halls: 1°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $3.24†
City population: ~4.6 million‡

NYU Tel Aviv

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 16*
Average class size: 7*
Number of courses available: 14*
Number of residence halls: 1°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $3.82†
City population: ~430,000‡

NYU Washington, DC

Average number of students studying away here each semester: 68*
Average class size: 17*
Number of courses available: 17*
Number of residence halls: 1°
Average cost of a cup of coffee: $4.69†
City population: ~680,000‡

°Additional student housing facilities are obtained as enrollment demands.

†Based on coffee prices in each country as of February 6, 2024 (Coffeestics.com)

‡Based on city population numbers (PopulationStat.com)

United States Census Bureau

ˣNYU London’s average number of students is anticipated to grow next semester due to the global site’s move to a larger academic center in the fall 2024 semester.

Repurposed with permission from NYU Global Notebook

Rogan Kersh Is the New Academic Director of NYU Florence

Posted on September 30, 2024 by Maxine P

For Professor Rogan Kersh, becoming the academic director of NYU Florence and the vice chancellor for Global Programs is the culmination of a lifelong interest in world cultures—and a full-circle moment in his history with NYU.

From 2006 to 2012, Kersh was the associate dean of the NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. There, among his other responsibilities, he was involved in the early planning stages of NYU Abu Dhabi, which fueled his passion for enhancing students’ global outlooks. For the next decade, Kersh served as provost at his alma mater, Wake Forest University, where he helped expand overseas study programs and global cultural opportunities on campus. In the fall of 2022, he spent a semester at DIS Copenhagen, teaching a course and engaging closely with their leadership to better understand the changing state of global education.

Now that he’s back at NYU, Global Dimensions caught up with Kersh to discuss his return to the University and his goals for NYU Florence.

What drew you back to NYU and specifically to NYU Florence?

I’ve remained close to many cherished NYU colleagues, and it will be wonderful to renew those relationships. For an organization this large and multinational, it’s remarkable how important personal connections are. As for NYU Florence: if you’ve visited, you know.

In your new role, what are your key goals for the site?

NYU Florence is at once a first-class study away program and a convening site important to NYU and to the city of Florence. Sustaining that balance, attending both to academic excellence and community engagement, feels essential.

I plan on learning as fully as I can about existing curricula, courses, and programs, and hearing from faculty and staff about the opportunities they see to enhance this wonderful site. Then, I will focus on working with them to help realize those opportunities.

What do you recommend students studying away at NYU Florence take advantage of while they are there?

I’ve always been impressed with how well Florence wears its extraordinary history—so many remarkable figures and movements and moments, most superbly preserved—while remaining a dynamic modern ecosystem that is a global leader in sustainability and has developed a thriving start-up culture.

Students can exercise their passion in virtually any direction and take advantage of so much: superb dining, from haute cuisine to street food; natural beauty in an urban setting; engagement with local public service organizations; and cultural treasures both ancient and newly imagined. And of course there are architectural gems everywhere you wander.

Many NYU Florence students find themselves spending fewer weekends city-hopping and more immersed in their fascinating immediate surroundings, which speaks to the power of the experience they have.

Written by Kristin Maffei

NYU Faculty Conduct Research in 107 Countries and Counting

Posted on September 23, 2024 by Katie L

At NYU, research thrives across 15 schools and campuses and dozens of centers and programs—in New York and around the world. In fact, University faculty conducted research in 107 countries, as well as in Greenland and Antarctica, during the 2023–2024 academic year alone. From sustainability to inequality and human health to artificial intelligence, research at NYU spans disciplines and crosses borders—and the University’s profile is rapidly rising. Today, NYU ranks 15th among all universities on the National Science Foundation’s annual Higher Education Research and Development survey, with the biggest year-over-year surge in rankings of any top 50 school (as measured by research expenditures).

“NYU’s ascent as a leading research university helps set the stage for President Mills’ visionary strategic pathways, which includes a focus on global science and technology that will enable NYU to continue to thrive and drive impact,” affirms Stacie Bloom, chief research officer, vice chancellor, and vice provost for global research and innovation. “By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, expanding global education opportunities, and investing in innovative research, President Mills has positioned NYU to be at the forefront of academic excellence and discovery. This holistic approach not only enhances NYU’s research capabilities but also cultivates a diverse and inclusive academic community that reflects the University’s values.”

Here are just a few of the projects positioning NYU to lead the world in global education and research.

J. Lawrence Aber, the Willner Family Professor of Psychology and Public Policy at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and Hirokazu Yoshikawa, the Courtney Sale Ross Professor of Globalization and Education at NYU Steinhardt, co-led and co-found the Global TIES for Children Center at NYU, stewarding the center’s research for a decade. Their team conducts research in 14 conflict-affected countries, including Colombia, Peru, Lebanon, Jordan, Niger, and Bangladesh, to improve program and policy action that promotes children’s holistic learning and development. Effective this fall, Florencia Lopez Boo, has taken over duties as the director. Prior to her role at NYU, Lopez Boo spent 15 years evaluating, designing, and implementing early childhood development, social protection, and health programs with the Inter-American Development Bank.

Meredith Dank, a clinical associate professor and director of the Human Exploitation and Resilience program at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management, has led nearly two dozen human trafficking studies. Recently, she ran a randomized controlled trial in two regions of India to address the high risk of human trafficking among the country’s Denotified Tribes. The research aims to reduce trafficking by developing economic alternatives and new livelihoods for the tribal communities.

Donna Shelley conducts research on tobacco use treatment and tobacco control policies in public healthcare networks for underserved populations. The professor of public health policy and management, vice dean for research in the Department of Public Health Policy and Management, and founding codirector of the Global Center for Implementation Science at the NYU School of Global Public Health recently studied high smoking rates among people living with HIV/AIDS in Vietnam. Her research seeks to develop a scalable, culturally appropriate model for implementing evidence-based treatment for tobacco users in outpatient HIV clinics in Vietnam.

Joo H. Kim is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and affiliated faculty of NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress and the NYU-KAIST Global Innovation and Research Institute. In collaboration with Korea University, his research in South Korea uses advanced 3D fall-threshold algorithms and intelligent surrogate models to develop wearable robotic devices to prevent falls and enhance safety.

Written by Dana Guterman

NYU Tulsa Kicks Off with Alternative Spring Break

Posted on September 9, 2024, modified on September 18, 2024 by Maxine P

Select NYU community members became the first to experience the University’s newest global site at NYU Tulsa through the Alternative Breaks program earlier this year.

A group of students and staff smile at a person speaking to them

NYU students and staff learn about Gathering Place before volunteering begins.

NYU Alternative Breaks emphasize exploring the integration of service, education, and reflection to create meaningful change in communities. The Tulsa trip focused on community development and outdoor recreation while providing opportunities for students to learn more about the area’s rich history and culture.

A group of 12 students as well as two staff advisers spent one week volunteering at Gathering Place, a world-class riverfront park. Like its name suggests, Gathering Place functions as a space for the Tulsa community to experience nature together. Volunteers connected with guests through play, engagement, and surveying; performed horticulture duties; and learned about the park, its vision, and its goals. “It is not your typical park,” says Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development sophomore Amanda Wang. “It truly serves as a place for people of all ages, backgrounds, and identities to come together.” For Amanda that often involved using the park’s unique resources to interact with children—playing instruments with them at the outdoor music stage or making arts and crafts in the makerspace.

A person stands in front of a screen with a map and key of Gathering Place and talks to a table of students and staff

A Gathering Place representative introduces the NYU alternative spring break cohort to the geography and offerings of the park.

“By engaging in volunteering, students immerse themselves in a new community, broadening their perspectives,” explains Casey Duffy, the manager for domestic study away career development. Duffy accompanied the students to Tulsa as a staff adviser. “These hands-on experiences offer practical learning outside the classroom, providing them with valuable skills and a deeper understanding of real-world issues.”

Tulsa is an area with rich history, reflected in upcoming classes that focus on Native arts, Black economic freedom, subnational policymaking, and clean energy. During their trip, students got a taste of the city’s complex past and colorful present with excursions to historic sites and cultural centers.

They visited the historic Greenwood District and Black Wall Street, spending hours at the Greenwood Rising history center, which tells the story of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

The Woody Guthrie Center

Additionally, they traveled to Pawhuska, home to the Osage Nation, one of Oklahoma’s 39 tribes. They rounded out the trip with visits to cultural sites, including the Bob Dylan Center, Woody Guthrie Center, Philbrook Museum of Art, and the Tulsa Artist Fellowship and Arts District. “The arts and writing scene is incredibly rich in Tulsa, and we had the opportunity to see what local artists were working on,” Amanda shares. “Their work has a meaningful purpose, touching upon identity, race, and gender.”

NYU Tulsa officially launches in spring 2025, providing a range of unique opportunities. “No matter what you’re studying, Tulsa can offer so many opportunities for you to dive deeper into your passions and interests. The community there is really what makes the city so special,” Amanda concludes.

Written by Sarah Bender

Toward Health Equity Across the Globe: NYU Shanghai’s Brian Hall Named Highly Cited Researcher in the Field of Psychiatry and Psychology

Posted on April 22, 2024, modified on April 22, 2024 by Maxine P

Professor Brian Hall has always kept a busy schedule. The global health researcher and clinical psychologist began his career providing triage services at a free medical clinic in Ohio, then he took his work to a post-tsunami Japan in 2011. With a dedication to supporting underserved and disadvantaged populations, he’s worked with refugees in Jijiga, Ethiopia, and migrant domestic workers in Macao, China. Today, he’s the director of NYU Shanghai’s Center for Global Health Equity and a professor of global public health. He’s also coauthored more than 320 peer-reviewed publications, commentaries, and chapters on the most pressing global health issues of our time, leading to his distinctions as a 2022 and 2023 Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Psychiatry and Psychology by Clarivate’s Web of Science. “It really highlights that our work is timely, focused on key issues of global priority that demonstrate a real impact on the field,” he says. “It is an honor.”

Hall joined NYU Shanghai in 2020 to lead the development of the global public health curriculum and ultimately the Center for Global Health Equity, at a time when public health reentered the spotlight. Since then, he’s also developed and taught a student-driven NYU seminar course on global mental health, which, to the best of his knowledge, is the first of its kind in Asia. Today, he oversees the center in three core areas: education, training, and mentoring; service to the community; and research. “Global health is a convening discipline, bringing diverse scholars and students together to address issues related to population health and well-being. Our goal is to continue to cultivate this interdisciplinary research atmosphere and include learners at all levels,” Hall explains. “This is a field in which we can make a real difference in the lives of diverse populations in China, regionally, and around the world.”

A group of individuals stand in front of a decorative poster.

Hall and colleagues celebrate the successful trial of Step-by-Step, a digital mental health intervention, on Chinese university students.

At the center, Hall says, “We focus our efforts on finding opportunities to make the greatest public health impact.” Currently, that includes noncommunicable diseases, like cancer and mental health, urban health, climate change, and migration. Now Hall is focusing on digital mental health interventions. Working with the World Health Organization, he recently published an implementation trial to address the mental health of Chinese university students—a population of more than 9 million. Going forward, the center is coleading a 1.3 million euro grant to study the barriers of accessing mental health care that migrant populations in five countries experience.

Jin Han, Yang Feng, and Brian Hall seated in chairs in discussion

Jin Han, Yang Feng, and Hall in discussion at the inaugural Summit in Global Public Health held by NYU’s New York City and Shanghai campuses

Because the center is based at NYU Shanghai, Hall and his colleagues have access to a wealth of resources. “Shanghai is a living laboratory, and NYU Shanghai is a vibrant interdisciplinary research university,” he affirms. “So we can find world-leading researchers and promising pretenure faculty and fellows with whom we can discuss opportunities for collaboration across fields. I think this makes NYU Shanghai unique, as we think outside of our own narrow fields to find intersections where innovation can take place.”

Written by Dana Guterman

Global Programs Booklist

Posted on April 15, 2024 by Katie L

Inspired by the first NYU Bookstore display collaboration between the Office of Marketing Communications and the Office of Global Programs, this list of books representing NYU’s global locations promises to broaden your perspective and enrich your knowledge.

NYU Abu Dhabi

Temporary People
By Deepak Unnikrishnan

The skylines of Abu Dhabi and Dubai are recognizable around the world by their resplendent glittering towers—but how did they get there? Deepak Unnikrishnan, an Indian-born writer raised in the United Arab Emirates and associate arts professor of literature and creative writing at NYU Abu Dhabi, knows the answer: a foreign labor force was brought in to construct them. Using a series of clever and surreal linked stories, Unnikrishnan gives voice to a humanitarian crisis that doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

NYU Accra

The Hundred Wells of Salaga
By Ayesha Harruna Attah

Based on a true story, The Hundred Wells of Salaga tells the tale of two women from very different backgrounds whose lives converge in an unexpected way. It’s a novel that will entangle you emotionally, while offering you crucial insight into precolonial Ghana, particularly the slave trade and its impact on a people.

NYU Berlin

No Photos on the Dance Floor! Berlin 1989–Today
Edited by Heiko Hoffmann and Felix Hoffmann

History books offer what we think is a full story, but this photography book provides a peek into the city’s after-hours culture through the club scene that blossomed in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It’s not only a delightful visual romp but also a history book in its own right, telling the story of a city in transformation, one party at a time.

NYU Buenos Aires

The Aleph and Other Stories
By Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges might seem like an obvious choice for Argentina—for a country that produced so many famous writers, he is arguably the most famous. Still, who can deny this selection? The brilliant, inventive tales of The Aleph and Other Stories will surprise and stimulate, and they are must-reads for diving into Argentine culture. Borges, after all, makes magic happen in the most unexpected ways.

NYU Florence

The Monster of Florence book cover featuring a close-up image of Giambologna's The Rape of the Sabine sculpture

The Monster of Florence: A True Story
By Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi

The Monster of Florence has developed a bit of a cult following in recent years, and for good reason—it’s a wild ride. American Douglas Preston moved to Florence with his family and quickly discovered that their olive grove was the site of one of Italy’s most infamous double murders. As he works with investigative journalist Mario Spezi, a Florentine, to get closer to the truth, things really begin to spiral. The Monster of Florence is a propulsive thriller that offers valuable, and often shocking, insight into the Italian justice system.

NYU London

White Teeth
By Zadie Smith

White Teeth is a rare novel that is entertaining while simultaneously layered with so much richness, one might want to read it all over again as soon as it’s over. Starting with two unlikely friends whose stories blossom into a poignant yet funny family saga, Zadie Smith’s debut novel keenly witnesses the immigrant experience in London, traveling to other continents as well while navigating the relationship between tradition and change.

NYU Los Angeles

Slow Days, Fast Company book cover featuring a distorted image of a woman

Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A.
By Eve Babitz

This slim book offers stories as wild and wanton as Los Angeles itself. Unapologetically hedonistic, Slow Days, Fast Company is also a clever, windy ride through the Los Angeles of the 1960s and 1970s. It has all the usual Angeleno archetypes, but Eve Babitz elevates them with her incisive and acerbic insights into life in Hollywood. Isn’t it funny that, decades later, so much has changed but so much remains the same?

NYU Madrid

Ghosts of Spain book cover featuring images of Spain

Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past
By Giles Tremlett

Worth a read to understand a post-Franco Spain, Ghosts of Spain is a well-rounded, curious, and admittedly fun romp through the country, albeit prompted by the author’s questions about its devastating civil war. British author Giles Tremlett combines keen cultural reporting with memoir and quirky sidebars that add levity to what begins as a serious interrogation. While it’s intellectually critical, it’s also a love letter to Spain. After all, there’s a reason Spain is Tremlett’s adopted country.

NYU Paris

The Years book cover featuring an image of a woman looking at the viewer with the silhouette of a person looking down a hallway

The Years
By Annie Ernaux

Annie Ernaux’s whole oeuvre is masterful, but many critics cite The Years, first published in 2008, as her magnum opus. In this brilliant collage of a memoir, Nobel Prize winner Ernaux examines her life and the generation that she grew up in, favoring “we” over “I.” The result is a personal history tied to the collective experience of a generation in France during the 20th century. Ernaux weaves her memories into a story that offers cultural notes on topics from consumerism and immigration to unemployment and the threat of nuclear war.

NYU Prague

Havel: A Life book cover featuring an image of Václev Havel with his hand atop his head

Havel: A Life
By Michael Žantovský

In many ways, Václav Havel’s life mirrors the zeitgeist of Prague: it’s political, literary, antiauthoritarian, surreal, and somehow, even at its most serious moments, darkly humorous. If that sounds like a lot, it’s because Havel, like the city itself, was a complex figure. Michael Žantovský was a trusted friend, so this biography reads as an intimate and true portrait (faults and all) of a man loyal to his people, his values, and his art. Žantovský succeeds in showing the many dimensions of the iconoclast—playwright, political dissident, prisoner, president—who, in the end, was just as human as the rest of us.

NYU Shanghai

Shanghai Future: Modernity Remade
By Anna Greenspan

This brilliant book contextualizes China’s largest and most cosmopolitan city through the lens of modernity. Author Anna Greenspan, an associate professor of contemporary global media at NYU Shanghai, reexamines the changing landscape of the city as it steps well into the 21st century and takes its place on the world stage.

NYU Sydney

Mirror Sydney: An Atlas of Reflections
By Vanessa Berry

A fun and unexpected romp, Mirror Sydney takes us on a tour of the harborside city via engaging essays and clever hand-illustrated maps. Based on a blog Vanessa Berry started more than a decade ago, Mirror Sydney is clearly more than a mere guidebook—it’s too much fun to be that typical. Moreover, it tends to direct the reader to the kinds of places the average tourist wouldn’t care to know about or explore anyway.

NYU Tel Aviv

The Bibliomaniacs: Tales from a Tel Aviv Bookseller
By J.C. Halper

On Allenby Street in Tel Aviv, J.C. Halper—originally from New Jersey but now an Israeli for four-plus decades—runs the city’s most popular secondhand bookshop, containing a dazzling 60,000 books. And in 2022 he published this book of clever, often funny short stories from the point of view of a shop owner. While the stories are allegedly fiction, one can’t help but wonder if we’re learning more about real locals than the author lets on.

NYU Washington, DC

Lost in the City
By Edward P. Jones

It’s a joy to read anything by Edward P. Jones, the gifted, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer. His debut collection of short stories, Lost in the City, is no exception and first cemented his literary reputation. These 14 tales tell the everyday encounters and struggles of Black citizens in Washington, DC. But Jones has a gift for making even the most mundane situation meaningful, and his rich, textured stories give weight to life’s most quotidian moments as viewed through the lens of the Black experience in the nation’s capital.

Written by Marti Trgovich

The Global Liberal Studies Course Taught Around the World

Posted on April 1, 2024, modified on April 1, 2024 by Maxine P

A group of students smile at the camera on a city sidewalk

Students in Cecilia Palmeiro’s “City as Text” class in Buenos Aires’ La Boca neighborhood. The class studies its traditional tenements—painted in different colors—in reading the history of Buenos Aires through its architecture. Photo credit: Daniel Espinoza

Global Liberal Studies (GLS) majors have the unique opportunity to take the course City As Text during the fall semester at most locations in NYU’s global network. The course, part of the GLS junior-year learning sequence, selects location-specific texts to immerse students in the setting where they’re living and learning. “Across all City As Text courses, emphasis is placed on the importance of primary sources. Students academically investigate their present geographic setting but also experience its profound intricacies on-site. The classroom work, alongside the field trips, is designed to facilitate the framing and contextualization of the study away experience,” says Philip Kain, the director of academic engagement and experiential learning and a clinical professor at Liberal Studies.

For example, at NYU Buenos Aires, readings and lectures are enhanced with visits from local government officials and activists. And, of course, excursions throughout the city to places like the Palace of the Argentine National Congress, Plaza de Mayo, and La Boca neighborhood, an artists’ haven that many 19th- and 20th-century European immigrants called home, provide further insight for students. “We produce a kind of knowledge that fosters reflection and analysis that exceeds the singularity of Buenos Aires and inspires their approach to other places,” says NYU Buenos Aires course instructor Cecelia Palmeiro, an expert on Argentine and Brazilian literature and gender issues, a researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, and the coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Center for Gender Studies and Policies at the National University of Tres de Febrero.

A group of students stand in front of a street mural featuring Argentinian soccer player Diego Maradona

Students in Cecilia Palmeiro’s “City as Text” in front of a mural of Argentinian soccer star Diego Maradona in Buenos Aries’ La Boca neighborhood. Photo credit: Daniel Espinoza.

This fall in Palmeiro’s class, students considered the past and present of Buenos Aires through the lenses of immigration, environmental concerns, art and its role in political protest, and reproductive health. “In order to obtain the critical tools necessary to make sense and produce academic knowledge out of this experience, students read ‘Neoliberal Reform and Landscape Change in Buenos Aires, Argentina’ by David Keeling and the classic ‘The Right to the City’ by David Harvey,” explains Palmeiro.

This approach is not singular to NYU Buenos Aires, however, as students at NYU London traveled to the city’s Brixton district to learn about the area’s musical history and shifting racial makeup. And at NYU Accra, students focused on how migration and religion shaped the Ghanaian capital, visiting places of worship to learn in context.

Architect Cecilia Alvis points to a colorful mural

Architect Cecilia Alvis with “City as Text” students in front of a mural on the Nicolás Avellaneda Bridge. Photo credit: Daniel Espinoza

NYU Paris students studied the potential impacts of the 2024 Summer Olympics, learning about the social and environmental impacts of the upcoming event, and in NYU Berlin, students contextualized their learning with the history and landmarks of the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the Cold War. “City As Text has played a significant role in the GLS curriculum since its inception. Our aim was to create a course centered on active engagement at the study away locations with a global perspective as its foundation,” concludes Kain.

Repurposed from NYU News

NYU Paris Staff Spotlight: Martina Faltova

Posted on March 26, 2024 by Katie L

Martina Faltova in a coat and hat stands in front of a flower stand

Martina Faltova at Paris’ Bastille Market

In 2001 Martina Faltova was a study abroad student in Cambridge, England, when a chance encounter with an NYU professor led her to becoming his family’s au pair in New York City. Since her visa required a language course, she enrolled in Intermediate French at NYU. She loved the University so much that, when she returned home to the Czech Republic, she applied to work at NYU Prague. Now, more than 20 years later, she’s the assistant director for student life at NYU Paris.

Your job starts before students even arrive: organizing events, arranging housing, and prioritizing everyone’s safety and wellness. What inspired you to work with study away students?
I was a guest in another culture, and when I was leaving New York City, the family I lived with told me there was an NYU site in Prague and I should apply to it. And I loved that because I just came out of New York, I knew who the students were, and I felt like I could give back. Also, I love traveling, languages, meeting new people, and helping people learn more about Czech culture.

What role does language have in a student’s success at NYU Paris and NYU Prague?
In Paris the language course is required, so everyone has to take French. And it really makes your life easier. It’s a wonderful feeling when you can communicate, and it’s a really big sense of accomplishment. In Prague, though language courses are not required, learning Czech helps you make connections with the local people and understand the culture better too. Other language courses are offered at NYU Prague as well.

What are additional ways students can connect to local communities?
In Paris students can take courses at partner universities and hold internships. I also see students who choose to stay in a homestay, where they meet local families and become more connected to the place. In Prague I saw a lot of connections for the music students because they were performing in local places like pubs and would practice at other schools around Prague.

An NYU Paris student interning at a nonprofit organization

What attracts students to each site?
In Prague there’s centuries and centuries of history around you. It’s also very affordable. You really can do anything: easily buy tickets to the opera, go to nice restaurants, or live on a budget. In Paris the arts scene is incredible for anyone taking art or film courses. Here, students leave the classroom and see the paintings they discussed, and they wander the streets featured in famous movies.

You mentioned that NYU Paris is also branching out from the arts.
NYU Paris has changed a lot in the past six years. When I arrived, the majority of our courses were in the humanities. Now we have more and more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses. So we see a lot of students studying computer science and mathematics.

Which initiative are you most proud of?
At the beginning of the semester, we bring in people from local communities like nongovernmental and volunteer organizations and promote our cultural activities and trips. We invite all of our student and club leaders to promote their work. Students just mingle and learn about these opportunities, then they sign up for clubs. They talk to organizations about volunteering and helping. I just love that day.

Written by Marti Trgovich

NYU Students Can Study at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Posted on March 11, 2024, modified on March 12, 2024 by Maxine P

KAIST’s Lyu Keun-Chul Sports Complex

NYU science and technology students who want to study abroad but stay on track with their majors will have another option starting this year: the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. KAIST is “an innovative and dynamic institution, and it is among the top science and technology universities in the world,” says Nyoka Joseph, the assistant director of student services for the NYU International Exchange Program. “NYU students will join 3,600 KAIST undergraduates and 3,000 graduate students who live and learn on a 350-acre campus in Daejeon, a city of 1.5 million people in central South Korea.”

The exchange program is part of a partnership between NYU and KAIST that was launched in 2022 to combine each university’s distinctive strengths and drive advances in research while forging new industrial collaborations and investments. The partnership also lays the groundwork for KAIST’s first campus in the United States, which will be a joint venture with NYU in New York City. Students who are interested in studying abroad at KAIST must first apply to be nominated. Once they are nominated, they will receive access to the KAIST application.

NYU students can choose from a wide variety of preapproved courses at KAIST or seek approval from their academic adviser or dean to take other courses at the institute. The preapproved courses take advantage of KAIST’s strengths in industrial design, technology and culture, artificial intelligence, and Korean language. For students who want to focus on science and technology courses while building their Korean skills, the Korean International House provides one-on-one Korean language tutoring and is one of many resources for NYU students.

Statue of Jang Yeong-sil in front of trees and glass building

Statue of Korean scientist, Jang Yeong-sil, on the KAIST Daejeon campus

“Nearly everything that a student needs can be found, including academic facilities, nearly 30 dorms, athletic facilities, dining, and international student support services,” says Joseph, who recently visited the KAIST campus to tour the facilities and surrounding city. “There are 60 undergraduate clubs and organizations that NYU students can join. When I spoke to international students on campus, they talked about how that helped them feel they were settling into the school socially and that it was a great way to meet people outside of the classroom.”

Repurposed from Global Notebook

Around the World in 97 Years: A Brief History of NYU’s Global Network

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Kristin Law

Long before study abroad was a rite of passage for curious students, NYU recognized the many merits of an international education. While the University founded its first study away site in 1958, Professor James E. Lough took 350 NYU students on a for-credit sailing trip around the world back in 1926, an experience he dubbed the “Floating University.” Tamson Pietsch, associate professor in social and political sciences and director of the Australian Centre for Public History at the University of Technology Sydney, detailed this little known journey in her recent book, The Floating University: Experience, Empire, and the Politics of Knowledge.

“NYU actually ran the very first study abroad program for academic credit in the United States and the world,” Pietsch asserted in a recent discussion facilitated by NYU’s Dr. Jini Kim Watson, professor of English and comparative literature and faculty liaison at NYU Sydney. During their conversation, Pietsch shared her work with Dana Burde, associate professor of international education at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and Shirin Nadira, assistant director of the NYU Office of Global Awards.

NYU Madrid

Pietsch’s book details the fascinating history of this educational experiment as well as its implications for higher education. “A contest emerged in the 1920s between expertise and experience as the foundation of knowledge claims about the world,” she explains. For eight months, 350 students and another 150 crew members traversed the globe on a ship, taking a variety of courses and disembarking at nearly 50 ports. Much like NYU’s global network today, the advertising materials lauded the voyage as an opportunity for students to “develop the ability to think in world terms through firsthand contact with places, people, and problems.” Indeed, students met recognizable figures such as Gandhi and the Pope. “The basis of the voyage was that you can teach students to be global citizens at sea—you can teach worldly-mindedness,” says Pietsch. However, the press covered students’ antics as much as their learning, and it would be some years before NYU students once more studied abroad.

NYU Paris

More than three decades later, in 1958, NYU established the first academic center in its global network, NYU Madrid. There, students hone their Spanish language skills while immersing themselves in the Spanish capital’s vibrant culture. Then, in 1969, NYU Paris became the second site, founded as a center for immersive French language study. Today, students from a diversity of fields come together to visit world-renowned museums and key historical sites while getting the opportunity to supplement their coursework with classes at French universities. In the years that followed, the NYU community established a dozen additional global sites, including two degree-granting campuses in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai.

As our world fractures, reconnects, and evolves, NYU’s global network has continued to grow and change. “In a way, I think that not much has changed,” concludes Pietsch. “The form of encountering engagement with the world does that same work of helping students understand the place of their nation in the international order.”

Written by Dana Guterman